It’s All About the Team: Boat Reviews in the Video Age

Anyone keeping track of this blog might have noticed the absence of a post last week. That’s because I was in Florida… not sailing in Miami as you might expect, but working in what the locals call “the Palm Beaches.” Although no lifejacket was required, sunscreen was applied—a nice change of pace from November in a New England office.

Lenny Rudow (with sunglasses) and Paul Cronin take a break from using their respective reviewing tools: pad and video camera.

Boats.com sent me (along with videographer/husband Paul) south to produce video boat reviews of seven Cruisers Yachts powerboats that ranged in size from 23-48 feet. For those of you that have never heard of Cruisers, neither had I. But the Wisconsin company will celebrate their sixtieth anniversary next year, an amazing show of longevity in the boatbuilding industry.

Now you all know I’m not really into powerboats… and yet by day four, I’d developed a lot of respect for the quality and attention to detail that Cruisers puts into its products. When reviewer (and fellow editorial staff member) Lenny Rudow stumbled onto a few features that weren’t quite perfect (a latch that didn’t work right, or a door that opened into a bulkhead without adequate padding), the reaction of the Cruisers staff was always, “Yup, thanks for pointing that out, we’re working on it.”

Which brings me (finally) to my real point: I had a really good time last week. Yes, it was powerboats, and yes, it was work… and yes, I, too, have trouble sleeping in hotels. But the constant challenge of figuring out how to communicate through a 4-5 minute video what’s different about each boat, and how impressive the build quality is—while not straying across that very sharp line between review and marketing-speak—was a pleasure. And it’s all because of the people I was working with.

Not everyone could work successfully with a spouse, but (as long as we don’t try to carry each others’ boarding passes) Paul and I get along well on the road. We enjoy bouncing ideas off each other to make each of these reviews better. Paul has filmed and edited every single one of the video boat reviews in the fast-growing Boats.com VBR library, combining his eye for boat design with his eye for framing and light. He makes the producer’s job easy; even if we get it wrong onsite, I know he’ll make it right with his careful editing.

Another reason last week was so much fun was Lenny Rudow. An avid fisherman, Lenny is as up front in his lack of knowledge (and, dare I say, interest) about what he jokingly calls “sailbotes” as we are about fishing (or, as I joke back, “fisching.”) Lenny is the Boats.com on screen “talent,” and he also makes the producing job easy. Suggestions for clearer wording are quickly translated into different phrasing that still gets his point across. Best of all, he’s never afraid to ham it up—though sometimes he’s surprised to see the playback.

And last but certainly not least, working with Jon and Gene from Cruisers was a delight. They fit us into a tight schedule without begrudging us the time we needed to run the boats or dig into lockers, and any question Lenny came up with was answered thoroughly. Jon even managed to fix a broken sunshade in time for us to film it in a working state. Best of all, we fit in a lot of laughter and stories from our very different worlds, reaching across the sail and power divide in a way that would make all of last week’s red and blue blend into purple.

Work or play, sail or power, fun really depends on the team. And this team made it all worthwhile, even those nights of bad hotel sleep.

For more about the VBR team, read Video Boat Reviews: Behind the Scenes on Boats.com.